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Urs Fischer at the Gagosian Gallery and Terry Richardson at OHWOW

As the countdown to the 84th annual Academy Awards ramps up, even the art scene in Los Angeles seems to have caught the Oscar bug, with several gallery openings taking on a distinctively Hollywood theme. First up, on Thursday night, the Gagosian Gallery in Beverly Hills hosted its annual Oscar week opening, this year featuring paintings and sculpture by the Swiss contemporary artist Urs Fischer. “We love it,” declared Julian Sands of the massive floor-to-ceiling paintings of vintage Hollywood headshots obscured by silk-screened images hung throughout the gallery. “It’s a little too big for our house, but we love it,” continued the British actor. “I’m sure with some artful rearranging we could maybe find a small space on our wall,” his wife, writer Evgenia Citkowitz, countered teasingly. Actress Alice Eve, who’s been filming the new Star Trek sequel this week, walked with her best friend, gallerist Lucy Chadwick, through the exhibition, which marks the New York–based Fischer’s debut show with the powerhouse gallery. They joined an eclectic cast of Hollywood characters, socialites, and models spotted in the crowd, including Elton John, director John Waters,Linda Evangelista, Vera Wang, and Stephanie Seymour. Local L.A. artist Rosson Crow, who had just finished hanging her own show, opening today, seemed relaxed and happy to take it all in. “I’m an Urs Fischer fan. His work’s got a good attitude—and by good attitude, I mean a bad attitude,” she laughed, “but I like that approach to art making.”

Outside West Hollywood’s OHWOW gallery Friday evening at the Terry Richardson exhibition, a line of eager fans snaked down La Cienega Boulevard as paparazzi jockeyed for prime positions against the gallery’s glass windows. A “Terrywood” Hollywood-style sign and spotlight outside marked the opening of the photographer’s first solo show in Los Angeles, a homecoming of sorts for Richardson, who attended Hollywood High School just a few miles away. “It’s a celebration of Hollywood, this boulevard of broken nightmares,” deadpanned longtime Richardson friend Jared Leto. Saturated with stereotypical Los Angeles imagery and inspired by Hollywood life, the photographs seemed to provide the perfect backdrop for the crowd of partygoers, who packed into the two-room gallery, rubbing shoulders with the likes of James Franco, Frankie Rayder, and Tom Ford. “Of course it’s supercool,” pronounced China Chow, who arrived with Museum of Contemporary Art director Jeffrey Deitch and Jhordan Dahl, co-curator of “The Total Look: The Creative Collaboration Between Rudi Gernreich, Peggy Moffitt, and William Claxton.” “We’re putting final touches on tomorrow,” admitted Dahl of the much-anticipated exhibition opening at the MOCA Pacific Design Center Saturday night. In contrast, Kate Young, in town to dress Natalie Portman and Best Actress nominee Michelle Williams for the awards Sunday, seemed to have all her work wrapped up. “I plan far in advance. Things go wrong at the last minute sometimes, but I try to be prepared for that,” said the hyper-organized stylist, who is squeezing in a shoot for Dior Tuesday before boarding a red-eye back to New York. From the gallery, guests migrated to a private after-party for drinks, dancing, and In-N-Out Burgers at the Chateau Marmont’s Bungalow 1, where the revelry continued late into the night, and an almost surreal, but somehow apropos, cameo by Pamela Anderson prompted one guest to remark, “Terry always knows how to throw a party!”